Real Love is Hard
by Greysobsessedsuperwholocian
Summary: A story about a Eve and Flynn being married and having a family and the general chaos that the Library brings.
1. Coming Home

Flynn stumbled through the blue light the back door gave off into the living room of his Portland apartment. Correction, the living room of his and Eve's Portland apartment. As he corrected himself from the usual unsteady landing the door provided he lifted his head and surveyed the room.

Loudly, Flynn bellowed "I'm home", a statement that was interrupted by a hand that was placed over his mouth the moment he began the word home.

"Quiet, you'll wake him! 2 months you've been gone, and not a word, not even a text to tell us where you were! I can't believe you! I can imagine the old you would do this, but not the married, father you! Flynn, we have been worried sick!" Eve angrily whispered.

"I haven't been gone 2 months" Flynn replied, which was not the right move to make, as Eve was seething with anger and not in the mood for his usual antics at this point.

"You have Flynn" Eve resigned herself to not wanting to fight. "But I'm glad you are home. Lucas is asleep so you can't go in there, you'll wake him. If he knows you are back, there won't be any power on Earth that will be able to get him back to sleep again and you know it."

Lucas was their 5-year-old son. The two had been married for nearly 8 years, much to the disgust of Jenkins, who, when he found out grumbled for about a week about how unethical and wrong it was for a Librarian and a Guardian to get involved with each other. However, Jenkins had warmed to the idea when Flynn promised him he would not let their marriage get in the way of their work. The other Librarians were a mix of emotions. Cassandra was overjoyed for the two, Ezekiel acted as if he was not fazed by the two, but deep down he was happy for them and Jacob was protective of Eve like any brotherly figure would be.

Eve took a step closer to the Librarian and lightly kissed him. A startled Flynn, who was expecting more yelling, or rather angry whispers as to not wake their son, was confused by this action, but quickly regained himself and returned the affectionate motion.

"How about we call it a night, I've missed you," Eve said seductively, and started walking towards the master bedroom. Flynn turned around and followed suit.


	2. The Following Morning

The next morning, a bubbly 5-year-old stumbled out of his bedroom and made his way to the kitchen, where his mother was making his breakfast.

"Morning mummy" Lucas said, sitting on his seat at the counter. The apartment that the family lived in was a modest one. It had two bedrooms and a bathroom all of which flowed off from a medium sized living space that consisted of a lounge and kitchen.

Lucas began to munch on his breakfast, oblivious to the fact that his father, whom he had not seen for a little over 2 months, was in the very next room. Flynn, who had just emerged from the shower, dressed and ready for his day at the Library, walked out into the main room.

"What time does Lucas have to be at school?" He questioned, oblivious to his son sitting at the counter. As he looked in the direction of his wife, he noticed his son who was sitting with a spoon poised halfway to his mouth, agape in surprise. The spoon soon clattered to the floor as the boy dropped it to run over to his father.

"Daddy! I missed you! Where have you been?" Lucas jumped up into his father's arms and sprouted questions so fast at his father, Flynn had to stare at the boy in wonder. Lucas was a spitting image of his father, with hair a lighter version of Flynn's, clearly from his mother's genes. The boy had just as much energy as Flynn, and he was the most boisterous child in his class.

Flynn hugged his son tight and carried him over to his breakfast, telling the boy tales about his trip to Cambodia in search of the Cintamani Stone. Eve stared at the pair in bewilderment, watching how the boy hung off his father's every word. As Lucas finished his breakfast, he hugged his father again and went to his room to get changed for school.

"Aren't you glad I didn't let you wake him last night, you really wouldn't have gotten him back to sleep" Eve noted. Flynn looked at her with a loving glance and leaned forward to kiss her. He got up and rounded the bench, reaching into the cupboard to pull out the same sugary cereal his son had just been eating and began to eat it directly from the box.

"I'll take him to school today, you should probably head in and prepare them for my return, maybe get some of your anger out on Jones before I get there," Flynn stated and quickly flashed one of his signature smirks.

"So now I'm responsible for preparing the pack so they don't eat you alive? How kind of you. Are you sure that is wise, with the mood that I'm in? I may not be much help to you."

Eve had been complaining and yelling to the other Librarians for the entire time Flynn had been gone and needless to say, this had caused the others to not be too happy with the head Librarian. They were all awaiting Flynn's return, most eager was Jacob, who wanted to beat the shit out of Flynn for the worry he had caused his Eve.

"You raise a fair point, my love. But I'm willing to risk it to spend a little more time with my son." Flynn knew that pulling the son card was risky but he tried anyway. The look in Eve's eyes told him he had not been successful in fooling her.

"Ok then, I guess I'll got to work, but don't expect any help from me. They are all very mad at you." Eve went into her son's bedroom and kissed the boy, telling him she'd see him later and that his father was taking him to school. Eve then phoned Jenkins and soon their bedroom doorway was filled with blue light. Eve glared at Flynn as she stepped through.

"Come on buddy, let's get going" Flynn said excitedly and him and his son stepped out onto the Portland streets headed towards Luca's kindergarten.


	3. Brotherly Defense

As Eve fell through the back door, she rightened herself from the usual unstable landing. All of the Librarians were there, doing some form of reading or research. Cassandra was sitting at the main table of the Annex reading a book that appeared to be so old she had to turn the pages so delicately so as to not damage the book. Ezekiel was also sitting with a book open in front of him but he seemed to be doing more sleeping than reading. Jacob was lying in the stacks reading a book that appeared to be entitled something about art. As she entered all three turned to look at her.

"It's a bit early for you isn't it, what time did you drop Lucas?" Cassandra asked. She always noticed the little things, and cared enough for the others in the group to point out oddities in their routines and check that they are OK.

Eve turned and stopped to consider for a second, should she lie and say she dropped him off early and then they would all turn on Flynn when he showed up, or should she tell them Flynn had dropped him off at school. She decided to go with the second option.

"Flynn is dropping him off this morning" she said casually, and waited for the words to sink in with each Librarian. All three of them looked at her with strange looks. Looks that told her they thought she had lost her mind.

"Flynn is back? When did he get back?" Jacob asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"He got back last night and decided to take Lucas to school so I could come in and 'prepare you for his return'" Eve explained to the three of them. Jacob was become more and more of a seething ball of anger as the minutes passed.

"He what! He's been gone 2 months, leaving you and Lucas alone, and he just turns up one night and expects the world to go back to the way it was before!" Jacob was yelling at this point, making violent gestures with his hands. "I can't believe him!" This however was the moment that Flynn chose to step through the glowing light of the back door into the scene in the Annex. Jacob turned towards the librarian. "You!" He bellowed, and chased Flynn around the table until he caught him and tackled him to the floor. Eve however, was just as fast as Jacob was and pulled him off her husband before he could do any real damage.

"Jacob let him go." Eve grunted, and pulled the burly man off of Flynn. Jacob grunted in Flynn's general direction but left him be. Eve helped Flynn up and he leant on her shoulder, his legs were not quite painless from Jacob's attack yet and Eve supported him while he regained control of his limbs.

"Where have you been! How could you do this to her, to them?" Jacob was back on Flynn's case. He took another step towards Flynn but Cassandra put a hand on his shoulder and he took a step back again.

"I was tracking this." He pulled out the Cintamani Stone. At this moment Jenkins walked into the Annex, a large book in hand. He turned towards Flynn, and analysed the scene in front of him. He grumbled at Eve and Flynn like he always did when they showed any signs of affection around him, but he quickly stopped when his eyes dropped to the item in Flynn's hand.

"The stone. You found it! Well done Mr Carsen. However, I imagine your adventure has upset the others." Jenkins took the stone from Flynn and walked to his desk, placing the stone upon it. "How about some tea?" He asked the group and when no one responded he turned around and walked into the kitchen anyway.

"I can't believe you Flynn!" Jacob returned to yelling at Flynn, but caught the glance in Eve's eyes, telling him to drop it. "But I guess I'm glad you are back." Right then the clippings book took the opportunity to start flapping about, trying to get their attention.

"Calm down!" Eve yelled at the book and it seemed to lessen its flutters. "Let's see, two kids have been kidnapped from a local kindergarten in Portland" Eve's voice trailed off to a whisper. She turned to look at Flynn who had the same look in his eyes she had in hers. It was the same kindergarten that Lucas attended.


	4. A Trip to Kindergarten

After their initial moment of shock, the two look up at the other people around the table, Cassandra and Jacob had both made the connection and had worried looks in their eyes, both communicating a question they didn't want to air. Ezekiel however was not quite there yet.

"Doesn't even look like we need the backdoor, but it does save time," Ezekiel chimed in. This was quickly answered with a heavy punch from Jacob, which Ezekiel was about to return when the penny dropped. He looked towards Eve and Flynn, finally understanding why Eve had stopped reading. "Is it his?" He asked, the question barely audible. Flynn just nodded. Jenkins was already on the move, and had set the back door a block away from the school. Without airing a word, the group decided that they would allow Flynn and Eve to be parents, worried for their son.

"The one thing that concerns me is if two children have gone missing why did the school not say anything when I dropped Lucas this morning? Why are they even letting kids come? Surely their first concern should be the safety of the children." Flynn was beginning to think now, asking all the little questions. The people who ran it seemed to be nice people, and it was hardly likely they were oblivious to the situation, parents were coming to pick up kids who were not there. And why had the police not shut them down to investigate. His questions were left unanswered.

"When Flynn and Eve stepped through the back door and onto a street about two blocks from their apartment, they wore looks of worry. They walked calmly towards the kindergarten, both trying to soothe the other, and both hoping against all hope that Lucas was alright. The other three librarians followed them, so if anything did go wrong they would be there to help. Flynn and Eve approached the lady at the reception saying they had decided to take Lucas home early as they had both finished work. The lady left and went to try and find their son. After she had not returned for a little over five minutes the pair began to fear the worst. Every possible outcome ran through their heads and then some, at lightning speed. They stepped into the main room to find the lady having a very angry conversation with a man in suit and sunglasses, who appeared to be someone important. Throughout the conversation, the man said little and showed no sign of any emotion as the woman grew more and more upset. She turned to return back to her desk, her face grave, and noticed the two looking directly at her. They knew what she was going to say before she said it.


	5. Bless You

"I don't really know how to tell you this, but Lucas isn't here. I checked, he was signed in this morning by Mr Carsen and hasn't been signed out but we can't seem to find him anywhere." The woman said, confirming both parents' suspicions. Eve turned to stone, freezing completely and sealing herself into the world in her head. Flynn on the other hand, began to break down. This broke Eve out of her daze and she turned to her husband and began to comfort him while also attempting to console herself. This wasn't right. She trusted this place with her child's life, and they had not followed through, and worse this woman in front of her and the man in the back room didn't seem to care that they had just turned the pair's lives on their heads. Eve and Flynn turned to leave, the three librarians who were waiting outside began attempting to comfort them.

"Once back in the Annex, having told the others the tale, the group began attempting to figure out why the clippings book would be trying to send them to a kidnapping case. This conversation regarding supernatural influence in their son's kidnapping did not help to ease either Flynn's or Eve's nerves. In fact, it increased it ten-fold. After Flynn told the story for the umpteenth time, Ezekiel perked up.

"Did you say the guy was wearing sunglasses and a black suit" he questioned. Flynn nodded. He ran in the direction of the closest stack and pulled out a book. Although it wasn't really a book, it was a game guide. "I was just thinking that sounded like the description of Slenderman, bar the sunglasses, that guy doesn't really have a face" Ezekiel pushed the book towards Eve and Flynn who were sitting together, hand in hand. "Did he look like this," he questioned.

"Don't be stupid, you idiot. Can't you see they are in enough pain as it is without you throwing video game creatures into the mix!" Jacob was starting towards Ezekiel, presumably about to hit him, when Flynn jumped out of his seat.

"Fear Dubh!" Flynn yelled. He then began running around the room, attempting to find a book on Scottish mythology.

"Mind repeating that at a speed the rest of us can understand," Eve chastised and stood up, following her husband around the room with her eyes.

"Fear Dubh. It's a Scottish myth. And an Irish myth. And I guess there is also a Romanian and Germanic version as well. Although that guy is slightly different. Anyways. Fear Dubh. Translates to 'The Dark Man'. Legend has it that he would steal children who dared to wander into the forest alone. Date back way into the 1600's. Really was just a tale to make children behave, but maybe this guy is real. Sounds like our guy though. He kept his hands in his pockets all the time. Fear Dubh doesn't have hands. Doesn't have eyes either, thus the sunglasses." Now Flynn was in a full blown spin. On his way around the table, Eve caught him around the waist and stopped him in his motions. She leant into him and kissed him.

"Are you seriously considering this?" she asked, and he nodded. "So I guess we should come up with a plan to get our son back."


	6. The Chase

"Sorry to have to be the one to point this out, but do we even know that he's alive?" Ezekiel questioned and Jacob, who was still looking for another reason to hurt the boy pounced at the opportunity, literally. He tackled Ezekiel to the floor so quickly Eve didn't even have time to react before Ezekiel was crying out in anguish. He just had time to punch Ezekiel square in the mouth before Eve and the others pulled him away.

"To be honest Ezekiel, no we don't. But what parents would ever stop searching for their child, especially the two of us who have a means by which to search?" Eve questioned and walked away and out of the Annex. Flynn cast an angry glance at Ezekiel and followed after her. The remaining librarians could hear snippets of the conversation and the crying going on outside the room, an act they had never actually seen the colonel do in front of them. After about five minutes the couple returned. Flynn ordered Jenkins to gather whatever equipment he believed would be best for combatting the Fear Dubh and to set the backdoor to the same location as before.

They soon left the Annex and headed to the kindergarten, Ezekiel trailing at the rear. No one was very happy with him right now, so he decided he would stay out of everyone's way. The team made their way into the building, the day drawing to a close with only a few children in the building. The receptionist was nowhere to be seen so they made their way into the back, in search of the man in the suit. They entered the main play area for the children and notice three offices off the room as well as a kitchen. They entered the first office and found it to be empty. As they were moving on to the second office, a kid came up to Eve and clung to her leg. She tried to entice the boy off but he would not budge, so she picked him up and attempted to console him.

"The bad man. He coming for me" The boy wailed. "Pwease don't wet the bad man get me!" Eve hugged the boy and promised him she would protect him from the bad man and that if he stayed with the other children she would protect them all. There were only four kids in the place none of whom seemed to care that there were now five strange adults walking through the kindergarten, all carrying weapons of some sort.

Flynn reached the second office first and opened the door. Inside was the man in the suit. However, he wasn't a man, he wasn't wearing his glasses so the team could see he had no eyes and had no hands either. He looked at them in surprise and stood up.

"Who are you? And where are the children?" Cassandra began to question. She was making an effort to seem strong but really she was scared, and they all knew it. All she received in reply was a deep grumble from the man. Eve made her way out into the main room again and quickly started pushing the children into the first office, hoping to protect them from the inevitable fight that was bound to occur and flow into the main room. As she got the last child into the office, the first shot was fired.


	7. The Battle

That shot was from Jacob, who had taken a pistol from the Annex, and was now pointing it at the creature, who seemed unaffected by the wound on its leg. It took a step towards the group and began shooting large amounts of black energy out of his hands.

"Oh come on! How come every bloody thing we fight can do magic, it ain't fair" Ezekiel yelled and drew his own weapon, some form of gun that Jenkins had re-engineered. The fight was now occurring in the main room of the kindergarten and as the team retreated to get a better vantage point, they had to dodge the knee height tables used by the small children. Fear Dubh was now moving towards the centre of the room, completely oblivious to the gunfire that was being launched at him. The team, now hiding behind a turned up table, began to discuss strategy.

"The myths around this guy are so undetailed there is barely any information on him, in any version. I have no idea how one would kill him" Flynn began to rant, and he started to stand up, but Eve quickly put a hand on his shoulder and kept him firmly planted to the ground. "Any ideas Ezekiel, you started this."

"You can't kill Slenderman, it just doesn't work" Ezekiel began to explain. All the others turned to him with various looks on their faces ranging from anger (Stone) to confusion (Cassandra). "I mean in the games, there is no way to kill him, you just try to outrun him. People discuss on forums all the time, there is no way to kill him. But this isn't Slendy, it's your fear whatcha-ma-call-him, you are the expert."

Flynn forgot where he was again and tried to stand up, but this time Eve was ready and stopped him before he could even begin to push himself from the floor.

"You are trying to get killed aren't you?" She said to him, a slightly mocking tone in her voice. "How about we share the lightbulb without being on our feet."

Flynn glared at her, but his eyes were full of endearment. "Fire. This creature haunts in woods. Woods burn. It's worth a shot." He looked over at his wife with hope in his eyes. "Any ideas?" He asked her.

"I just might have a few" She smiled at him and shifted into her colonel persona. "Now, we don't want to set the whole place alight, because we don't know where the children are, and we already know there are four kids in that office, terrified. So, how do we set him alight without causing damage to the place?" She asked them.

"Backdoor! We force him through the back door to somewhere where we can't hurt anyone." Cassandra suggested. "Theoretically Jenkins can do it."

Eve immediately picked up the phone and told Jenkins what she needed. After what everyone could tell was a few unhappy grumbles from the caretaker, Eve hung up the phone. "He says he can't do it, but he'll try. He told me to hold Fear whatever-"

"Dubh" Flynn interjected.

"Whatever. Off for a few minutes to give him a chance to figure out if he can do it, and he'll get back to us." A few minutes later the door to the second office was a glowing doorway of blue light. "I guess that is our cue. Cover me." She looked at Jacob as she said it. "Give me a chance to check out the scene first, make sure Jenkins succeeded." She began running towards the doorway at full speed, barely hearing the gunshots that were flying over her head.


	8. The Victory

As Eve fell through the back door she looked around. She was standing in the middle of the desert. Where in the world this desert was located she had no idea, but there was not a tree in sight. She smiled to herself and went back through the light. Fear Dubh had now turned to look at her, his face showing no emotion. She gave a slight nod to her Librarians, signalling to them that the doorway was going to the right place. At this Jacob, began to run at the creature. He tackled the creature through the glowing light and into the dry landscape of the other side. Eve lead the others through after him.

Jacob had untangled him from the creature and was backing his way towards the door again. "Can't we just leave him here? There is no way for him to get back!" Jacob directed this question to Eve but it was Flynn who answered.

"He's better to us dead, but that's plan B" Flynn stepped out of Ezekiel's way and allowed him to step forward.

"Jenkins does too many things to one weapon, at least I'm glad about it this time," He said as he turned the gun towards the creature. As he pulled the trigger large bursts of fire began to shoot out the end of it. He began walking towards the creature, which was starting to show an emotion on his pale face. Fear. At that moment Flynn knew that his idea would work. The creature caught as Ezekiel got close to him and he started to burn. They stood and watched until the Fear Dubh was nothing more than a pile of ashes in the middle of the desert.

The team stepped back into the room of the kindergarten, just as the door returns back to just that, a door. Eve began making her way to the second office, to see if maybe the creature had left any indication as to where her son might be. They all searched the office thoroughly and found no clues whatsoever. Eve looked at Flynn with sadness in her eyes. Everyone knew what the pair were thinking. They made their way out of the office and turned to the last room. Jacob was the one who opened the door. As he stepped inside the group heard him gasp. The room was much larger than it appeared from the outside. It was dark and dingy and looked more like a cave than a room in a child care centre. Hanging from the ceiling were small cages. Three of the cages had small figures crouched inside of them. Eve and Flynn made a beeline for their son, and once he was free they hugged him like they would never let him go. The rest of the group set the other kids free, a girl named Ally and a boy named Brian. They then made their way to the front of the kindergarten and attempted to find the receptionist.


	9. The Happy Ending

After locating the parents of each child still in the kindergarten, the team made their way back to the Annex, Lucas asleep in his mother's arms. Both Eve and Flynn refused to move more than a few feet away from their son and once they were back in the Annex they moved to a set their sleeping son down on a makeshift bed Jenkins had procured. All six people sat around the sleeping boy, and that is how they spent the night.

Lucas awoke late in the morning of the following day. Cassandra was not far away; nose deep in the same book she had been reading the previous morning. Jacob was nowhere to be seen but was probably somewhere else in the library, searching its vast collection. Ezekiel was upstairs, playing a video game. Both Eve and Flynn had fallen asleep, Flynn with his head on Eve's shoulder, Eve resting her head on his. However, the moment the boy stirred the two were wide awake.

"Where am I?" The dazed boy asked, and both his parents jumped to his side.

"You are in the library sweetheart. Do you remember anything that happened at school?" Eve asked her son. She had her hand on his arm and a look of worry on her face. Flynn was a mirror of her.

"Not much. I was playing and then I must have fallen asleep because I woke up in a dark room." Lucas explained to his parents. He stood up out of the cot he was sleeping on and turned to his father. Flynn then picked the boy up and gave him a huge hug. "Daddy, I'm hungry. Can we go home now?"

"Jenkins. Can you please send us home?" Eve asked the caretaker with the sweetest sounding voice she could muster, but everyone could hear the tiredness in her voice.

"Of course, colonel," Jenkins replied as he began to program the back door to their apartment. As the three stepped through the light into their small home, Eve put a hand on her son's back and kissed her husband. They landed wobbly on the other side and Eve quickly went to the kitchen to get a bowl and pour some cereal into it. Flynn followed her and placed their son in his normal chair on the counter.

"So no school today?" Lucas asked. Both adults shook their heads. Eve leant over and kissed the top of her son's head, and took Flynn's hand in hers. She dragged Flynn just out of earshot of Lucas and sat him down on the couch. She just hugged him.

"He is OK." Flynn whispered. This only caused Eve to hug him tighter.

"But what if he hadn't been? We failed Flynn. We are meant to protect him. And what we do just makes that more difficult. People can use him to get to us. What if that hadn't of just been some creature wanting random children and our son just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? What if it had been someone like Dulaque?" Flynn bent down and pulled his wife's face up to look at him. He bent his head down and kissed her.

"And if it had been, we would have stopped him. We would have saved our son. I promise I'll do the very best I can to keep him out of harm's way, and I know you will do the same. Lucas will be fine." Eve hugged him tight, kissed him and went back to check on Lucas.


End file.
